September is National Recovery Month.
The focus of my blogs throughout the month of September will be on addiction and its life destroying tendencies. The writings derive from my own personal experiences of battling addiction and living a life of recovery.
These specific writings are focused on the ACTÂ acronym.
ACTÂ leads to sobriety…
A – Acknowledge you have a problem and you are powerless over it and you need help.
CÂ – Connect with a power greater than you and people who have solutions that will help you conquer your problem.
T – Take positive, recovery-oriented action every day.
We’ve spent 17 days looking at the Acknowledge and Connect stages of ACT. We will close out Recovery Month by looking at the most important stage and that is to Take positive, recovery-oriented action every day.
Today is a continuation from yesterday’s post (September 19).
As I indicated yesterday, I passed the test with glowing numbers in order to be admitted into Greene Hall’s chemical dependency program. Obviously, it is embarrassing to think I ever had to take such a test, but walking through the doors of Greene Hall was a major action step toward breaking out of my addiction-locked prison cell.
When I look back on that moment in my life I realize with God, rock bottom doesn’t have to be an end, it can be the start of an unbelievable journey.
The first order of business was to check me into a detox room where I would hunker down and take on what I intended to be my last journey through withdrawal.
Opiate withdrawal is absolutely horrible.
I had been through it a couple of times before and it is like having the flu and depression on steroids.
The body feels as though it is turning inside out and the human mind becomes super sensitive to all internal, external, previous and future experiences. Shame and guilt run rampant along with the seemingly unending contents of your colon. Opiate withdrawal takes having the cold sweats to another level.
Personally, I believe one of the main reasons we are losing so many opiate addicts to overdose deaths is because of the fear of going through withdrawal.
To make matters worse, I was also addicted to barbiturates and they had taken up residence in my neuromuscular system which caused me to have uncontrollable leg tremors.
I will never forget my ‘opening night’ of withdrawal. It began a few hours after I was admitted.
In the detox area we shared bathrooms…go figure. When the diarrhea began, I ran into the bathroom and stopped cold in my tracks because a very small, slight, scraggly gentleman had beat me to the toilet. When I entered the room his head was down but it popped up and out of his mouth came words that I will never forget, “What’s up man?”
In that moment I had hit Step Zero (0).
I’ve discussed the 12 Spiritual Steps of recovery (Steps 1 thru 12) in previous posts, but I very seldom discuss Step Zero (0)…What in the heck is wrong with me?
“What’s up man?” I’ve never forgotten those words from a career alcoholic who was raised on Kentucky moonshine. His name was Willie R. W. He was my bathroom mate in a chemical dependency treatment center…What in the heck was wrong with me? How could this have happened to me?
More to follow tomorrow.
Proverbs 13:10, “Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.”
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
